Ghoul Must Eat
| Made with | C# & Unity Aseprite, GIMP CC0 and PD assets ChatGPT (AI-assisted time formatting) |
| Timeline | 1 week + post-release improvements |
| Playable | Itch.io |
| Code | stevepdp/wgj203-ghoul-must-eat |
Retrospective
Made for Weekly Game Jam 203.
The Idea
The jam theme was “Eat the Enemy”.
I like to explore antagonists and the anti-hero archetype. After some thought, I settled on the idea that the player would be the bad guy and that they would be eating the good guy.
What Went Wrong
I spent too long musing on features and aesthetic decisions. Most of the code went in on the final days. Particularly in the final few hours where I had to cut back and focus on quick-wins.
For example, I decided to cut back on how I represent a horde of ghouls. The plan was to present the ghoul with child ghouls following in a grid-like formation. I instead opted for displaying the number and scaling the player.
What Went Well
Despite it's flaws, the product has a beginning, a middle and an end. It shipped within the deadline. As one of the comments read, that’s an achievement in and of itself.
I received plenty of well-meaning feedback and feature requests.
Lessons Learned
- If allowed, prepare the game's scaffolding in advance.
- Focus on the gameplay. Leave pixel art and aesthetics till the end.
- Test exports throughout to catch issues early.
- It doesn’t matter what you intended to make, you will be judged on what you shipped.